Read's ST Review and Expectations

[Thanks_Tom RR]

The special teams play was much worse this year than last. I know punt returns suffered because of the absence of DPE. However, I wonder if the issue is not bigger than that and named Coach Read. Nebraska's kick return game was lacking for the first half of the season, even before the injuries which can affect ST depth. This was more the result of mismanagement of who was returning. You could see the shift when they replaced Stevenson for Morgan. Now, everyone knew DPE was going to be out for at least the start of the season, and for as sure-handed as Westerkemp is, he does not give you anything dynamic in the punt return game. So, why were we watching Jordan fair catch every punt all season long? What kind of ST plan is that? I am not saying I know who to put back there, but I am saying Read should know. It is his job. And, what is the plan for next year? More Jordan fair catches? You have to start with the assumption that DPE is not an option again, so who is being recruited to fill this need? I know Riley and Read have no problem recruiting for ST, with scholarships going to a long snapper recruit last year and a kicker this year.

Further, with as much long-term success Nebraska has had with local talent at the kicker position, I am surprised to not hear any interest in local guys like Brenden Pelster (Chambers Wheeler Central), Omar Rodriguez (High Plains), Brendan Barnes (Grand Island) or Chris Hahn (Bell West). I am not asking for more kickers to be put on scholarship, but let's get some of these guys in on preferred walk-ons and see who earns PT.

Finally, Kieron Williams showed last year that he could get after the punter. Why was his edge rushing ability not schemed toward?

This year was a ST bust, imo, with the exception of the All-B1G play by Foltz and the mid-season resurrection of Drew Brown. I believe real benchmarks need to be in place before we can expect ST success next year. We need 1) a return specialist recruited, 2) preferred walk-ons going out to local kickers and punters, and 3) Kieron Williams featured in the punt block scheme.

 

[Red Five]

punt return #40

kick return #117

punt return defense #17

kick return defense #108

Even w/o DPE, we were still above average on punt returns. Our punt coverage unit was pretty good. We were not good on both sides of the ball for kickoffs and that needs to improve in 2016.

This year was a ST bust, imo, with the exception of the All-B1G play by Foltz and the mid-season resurrection of Drew Brown. I believe real benchmarks need to be in place before we can expect ST success next year. We need 1) a return specialist recruited, 2) preferred walk-ons going out to local kickers and punters, and 3) Kieron Williams featured in the punt block scheme.

#1 - JD Speilman

#2 - Agree, but why only focus locally? We have one of the top punters in the nation committed in the 2016 class (and also sounds pretty good a kickoffs)

#3 - I don't know if Kieron Williams is the definitive answer, but it would be nice to block a few more punts

 

[84HuskerLaw]

I think in fairness to the team and coaches this year, I believe we were so 'ify' in so many areas, they thought of fumbled punts was terrifying and the result was safety over risk. We didn't end up terrible but yes we all expected that the punt return game should be one of nation's best. It was not. We have plenty of receivers that can catch and surely some have the guts to actually return punts and not just waive the hand high in the air and stand there.

Kick offs should be one of your best 'slashing' type runners with excellent speed and at least 200 pounds in my view. 220 is even better. You must break through on most kick off returns where you make people miss on punt returns. RBs are usually good on kick offs. I think by this fall we will have an I Back or two that can stand back there and catch and return those kicks. Coverage requires we put our speediest tackers all over out there (safety, LBs, CB, TE, FBs). We will be better with second year in the system. Our kicker needs to get a much higher percentage of kicks out of the end zone. I believe we were under 50% and we should be around 65 or 70% or more. Brown will get there as his power should increase with time. Kris was excellent in booming long kick offs. Kid brother will be too.

 

[RADAR]

Agree that special teams can and should be better overall. Bo really only had one good year out of seven so I am not sure we can use that as a benchmark. This year was better than most all of his other 6 years. I think we will be better next season with a better understanding of talent on hand.

 

[4skers89]

He identified and fixed Drew Brown's problem kicking from the right hash. A lot of people wanted Drew benched early on. I would assume the focus for most of the season was implementing new offense and defense and not a lot of practice time devoted to special teams. Next season should give us a better idea of what Reed can do.

 

[Enhance]

Agree that special teams can and should be better overall. Bo really only had one good year out of seven so I am not sure we can use that as a benchmark. This year was better than most all of his other 6 years. I think we will be better next season with a better understanding of talent on hand.

This is a pretty good summary of how I feel, too. Special teams can be an absolute game changer, but, it can also be a complete game breaker. It bit the Redskins in the a$$ last night against the Cowboys with under 2 minutes to go in the game.

For Nebraska, I think it was likely a confluence of scheme, talent evaluation, execution and of course injuries. It's possible their mentality may have been that they have so many things to work on offensively/defensively they wanted to make sure ST just didn't screw anything up.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I am not sure what to think of Read. I honestly have no idea what he does for the team. Punter Sam was good under Bo, so I don't see how things improved there. I think Read did help with Brown, and showed him the flaws in his kicking. Brown was automatic at the last 1/2 of the year. Punt returns were hindered by the loss of DPE, so I will give Read a break there. However, the kickoff return was a complete mess. I couldn't believe that Read had no idea who Stevenson was when Riley told Read that Stevenson was going to return kickoffs. That was so weird to me. Also, I think Read got a little cute on kickoff coverage teams. There were times where instead of having Brown just boot it deep, they would try a high "pooch" style kickoff which would end up being disasters. If you have a kicker who has the wind, try to have the guy kick it through the end zone.

 

[MichiganDad3]

punt return #40

kick return #117

punt return defense #17

kick return defense #108

Even w/o DPE, we were still above average on punt returns. Our punt coverage unit was pretty good. We were not good on both sides of the ball for kickoffs and that needs to improve in 2016.

This year was a ST bust, imo, with the exception of the All-B1G play by Foltz and the mid-season resurrection of Drew Brown. I believe real benchmarks need to be in place before we can expect ST success next year. We need 1) a return specialist recruited, 2) preferred walk-ons going out to local kickers and punters, and 3) Kieron Williams featured in the punt block scheme.

#1 - JD Speilman

#2 - Agree, but why only focus locally? We have one of the top punters in the nation committed in the 2016 class (and also sounds pretty good a kickoffs)

#3 - I don't know if Kieron Williams is the definitive answer, but it would be nice to block a few more punts

Perhaps our punt return performance is biased by a great punter - hang time etc.

 

[MichiganDad3]

Agree that special teams can and should be better overall. Bo really only had one good year out of seven so I am not sure we can use that as a benchmark. This year was better than most all of his other 6 years. I think we will be better next season with a better understanding of talent on hand.

This really bother me. I have always believed that ST makes a big difference, but Bo's ST were always bad until his last year, and now were are back to poor special teams. Rats!

 

[Saunders]

I think the biggest issue with Read, is that it's literally his only job, and for $500k, we wanted VT level special teams units. Bo's special teams units were farmed out to different assistant, and were actually pretty good most of his tenure, except the disastrous 2013 season where we could barely catch a punt. IIRC, they were in Phil Steele's top 10 ST units 5 of 7 seasons (one of the few places to track that stuff), and we routinely had good kicking and coverage units. The return units were decent to good most years too. 2015 wasn't that bad, other than our kick return unit, which was non-existent until Stanly Morgan got the nod. That said, Brown got better, and we did get a bit better in the return units over the year.

 

[Saunders]

To expand further on my above statements, here's a look at ESPN's national Special Teams ratings for the past decade, with Nebraska's ranking for each year.

Team efficiencies are based on the point contributions of each unit to the team's scoring margin, on a per-play basis. The values are adjusted for strength of schedule and down-weighted for "garbage time" (based on win probability). The scale goes from 0 to 100; higher numbers are better and the average is roughly 50 for all categories.

2015: #27

2014: #1

2013: #72

2012: #96

2011: #15

2010: #31

2009: #1

2008: #12

2007: #56

2006: #39

2005: #11

We weren't bad this year, but hopefully with a full time ST guy, we're routinely top 10 under his watch.

 

[Pedro Guerrero]

I can’t remember if we had any botched snaps or kicks blocked this year. I’m pretty sure there was an upgrade in long snapping (even if that one dude’s girlfriend didn’t want us to believe it).

The onside kicks that Brown did at the end of a couple games really left something to be desired and they looked like he had never practiced it a day in his life.

 

[swmohusker]

Agree that special teams can and should be better overall. Bo really only had one good year out of seven so I am not sure we can use that as a benchmark. This year was better than most all of his other 6 years. I think we will be better next season with a better understanding of talent on hand.

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, whoa, whoa. Something needs to be improved and it was not the players fault. Progress.

 

[Red Five]

To expand further on my above statements, here's a look at ESPN's national Special Teams ratings for the past decade, with Nebraska's ranking for each year.

Team efficiencies are based on the point contributions of each unit to the team's scoring margin, on a per-play basis. The values are adjusted for strength of schedule and down-weighted for "garbage time" (based on win probability). The scale goes from 0 to 100; higher numbers are better and the average is roughly 50 for all categories.

2015: #27

2014: #1

2013: #72

2012: #96

2011: #15

2010: #31

2009: #1

2008: #12

2007: #56

2006: #39

2005: #11

We weren't bad this year, but hopefully with a full time ST guy, we're routinely top 10 under his watch.

Bo's average: 32.6

Riley's 1st yr: 27